5 Replies - 25552 Views - Last Post: 22 April 2011 - 10:33 AM

Resume - Where To Put Personal Projects?

Posted 19 April 2011 - 06:08 PM

So I've decided to refresh my resume that I haven't touched in more than 4 years. In that time, I've done a number of projects for my full-time job. However, I've also done projects in my own personal time, which would be the only projects that I could show(work-related projects are confidential). I've tried to do some searching, but haven't really come up with anything.

How would I add my personal projects to my resume? Before my current full-time job? At the end? What would the "timeline" be? Or would there even be one?

Also, let's say I have code on CodePlex, or another open-source repository, should I include a link to it in my resume? Or would that be stupid?

Re: Resume - Where To Put Personal Projects?

Posted 21 April 2011 - 07:19 AM

It depends on your resume and how you have it setup... my personal projects are not under education, and are actually grouped with my big school projects. The first couples headings on my resume are:
Objective (the typical stuff)
Education (just the relevant schools)
Computer and Programming Skills
- Subheading: Languages and Operating Systems
- Subheading: Software Applications
- Subheading: Software Projects
I then have the title of each program, and a brief description of its purpose and what languages/etc. I developed in. Keep it simple and short - if they want to know more, they'll ask you in the interview.

Then I have jobs, volunteer groups, important positions held, etc.

This worked out pretty well for me. As Nikitin mentioned, only include IMPRESSIVE projects. Also, cater your resume to your prospective employer. If you're applying for a DB maintenance job, your awesome game project might not be good to add (unless it uses a DB somehow?). I personally keep a huge-ass "resume" (it's more like a CV), and when I apply for jobs I remove everything that isn't important to that specific job.

Re: Resume - Where To Put Personal Projects?

Posted 22 April 2011 - 10:33 AM

I think including websites is iffy and probably doesn't help your resume (URL's don't look nice on paper). Have them handy just in case, but your resume should be short and concise, just giving a taste of what you're about - going into detail or showing them your projects should be reserved for the interview (you don't want to include every detail about you on, say, match.com and then have nothing to talk about on the first date - but you need to sound interesting enough to date in the first place)

If you do include a site, I suggest make it a personal website that documents all of this info - and you better make sure it's professionally done. Looking at your site - it's a pretty dark color scheme, but overall it's visually good - but as a prospective employer one of the first things I see is a comment from your twitter account: I hate when ugly people say "I need my beauty sleep" Bitch you need to hibernate. Even if you have an eclipsed4utoo.com/resume/ section, you have to assume they'll be checking out the root site as well.

So, to summarize - IF you include a link, make it a personal site that documents all your projects, make sure it's done right, and I'd place it at the time with the rest of my contact info.